


by your side

by efrondeur



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Car Accidents, F/M, Keith and Shiro are Sibilings, Lonliness, M/M, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prosthesis, i can't promise a happy ending but it wont be a sad one, minor character death is in the first chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 20:51:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8637646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/efrondeur/pseuds/efrondeur
Summary: And in my heart I will always be sure
  
  I will never forget you
  
  And you will always be by my side 'til the day I die





	1. i watched you as you left

**Author's Note:**

> Buckle up everyone, this is my Bro AU. (Also, the first chapter is about 1/3-1/4 of what I'm planning on most chapter lengths to be, I just thought the cut off was good where it was)
> 
> So I came up with this while laying in bed one night and ended up making a [tumblr post about it](http://shiros-eyes.tumblr.com/post/152744585929/keith-and-shiro-bros-au) and you guys really inspired me to get on my ass and write it. 
> 
> There is Shallura and Klance in this, but it'll be later on in other chapters. However, when they do come, they will be very, very important to the story. Although, this does focus more on Keith and Shiro's relationship than any others.
> 
> Some chapters will be pretty heavy, so for those, I'll put a warning in the beginning notes and then give a summary of what happened minus the feels.
> 
> Also, I kinda deleted this one night when I was just having a really bad day - and I honestly don't even remember doing so or why exactly I did so but that's neither here nor there - so I'm reposting this now, which is why, if you've seen this before, it's not a mock of another, this is it. Shout out to AniPendragon for dealing with my stupidity, errors, and helping to convince me to repost this.
> 
> Title, summary, and chapter titles come from Never Forget You (Alex Schulz remix).
> 
> Anyways. Welcome to my personal hell. Enjoy.

It felt like forever ago. A past lifetime that he never wanted to know.

It felt like it wasn’t even his own memory. More like he was watching from the sidelines, unable to ever look away.

It felt like nothing but… _an end._

 

* * *

 

_One Year Earlier_

“Are you guys excited!”

In short? Yes. Keith was excited. His brother, Shiro, was home from university, he was going to see the fourth Avengers reboot - which he had been told was the best of them all - and then afterwards they were going to both he and Shiro’s favorite restaurant.

Ma was playing More Than a Feeling - arguably Keith’s favorite song - and had rolled down the windows. He had his right arm stuck out slightly, rolling his fingers around in the wind as the car started to slow.

On any other day like this, he would be outside working on the lawn chair he had been meticulously crafting from scratch or simply laying out in the sun, enjoying the light breeze and the damp smell of the lake that it carried along with it. But, Shiro was home, and in that moment, he would have happily given up anything to spend time with his brother.

Shiro let out a small snort, breaking off Keith’s train of thought. He looked over to Shiro as the car rolled to a stop. They locked eyes.

“Yeah, totally excited, Ma,” said Shiro, voice monotonous. The two rolled their eyes at her. Shiro smiled as he looked forward to the rear view mirror, where their mom was watching him from the driver’s seat.

He heard Dad laugh from the passenger’s seat.

Ma scoffed. “Takashi, this is the first day we’ve been able to do something as a family in _years_ -”

“I haven’t even been gone for four months.”

“ _And, I_ , for one, am excited.”

Keith let out a small laugh. “Sure, Ma.”

“Hey, not you, too,” she said, turning in her seat to point at him.

“Yumiko,” said Dad with a chuckle, “the arrow’s green.”

Ma grumbled something under her breath as she turned to face the road. Dad turned his head slightly and winked at Shiro. Shiro smiled back.

Dad turned back to face the road as Ma carefully accelerated into the left turn.

 

* * *

 

So that was just about everything that he could remember clearly. And for that, he was thankful.

He didn’t _ever_ want to remember the rest, no matter how blurry it may be, but you don’t always get to pick and choose now do you?

 

* * *

 

_One Year Earlier_

“ _Yumi!_ ” screamed Dad. Keith’s head whipped up, trying to find the source for his shouting. What the hell was going on?

He heard Ma gasp. Short. Quiet. Filled to the brim with fear. _What was happening?_

Keith tried to move in his seat so that he could see around Dad’s seat, but all he saw was a muscled arm coming down and smacking against his chest, pressing him back and holding him tight against his seat.

 

* * *

 

After that?

After that was when the blur took over. That was when he was told that the truck slammed into their car. That was when the guy who just had to go out drinking with his buddies decided to grab Keith’s life by the balls and and slam dunk him into a never-ending trash compactor.

Everything that he remembered was off. Everything he knew came with waves of uncertainty.

He remembered a crunch and screaming. But exactly whose screaming was it? Your guess is about as good as his.

He remembered sirens, and a lot of them. But when had they showed up? No clue.

He remembered screaming for Ma and Dad. But were they even still alive at that point? Hopefully not.

He remembered a man strapping him onto a stretcher. But when had he gotten out of the car? No idea.

He remembered Shiro yelling to him that everything would be okay, his pained voice taking out any and all assurances and replacing them with even more fear. But, here was the biggest question of all: was he right? Were they really okay?

Keith at least knew the answer to that one.  
  
  
  


 

 

No.


	2. without you here, i feel so low

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Shiro start to deal with the aftermath of their parents' death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a couple notes:   
> a. Keith is 15 and going into freshman year, Shiro is 20, going into his junior year in university.  
> b. This will update every friday (assuming i can get my shit together and keep it together), this update is just to catch up on what was already posted. I'm hoping to update tomorrow since it'll be friday, but considering I only have 100 words for it so far, we'll see how that goes.

There was a soft knocking at his door. “Keith? It’s time to get up,” said Shiro, voice gentle through the door.

Keith turned onto his stomach, digging himself further into his blankets and shoving his face into his pillow. Not today, Satan, he thought. There was another knock, this time harder.

“Keith, I heard your bed creak, I know you’re up. C’mon, we’re talking to the principal before school starts. You gotta move it.”

“Okay, okay,” mumbled Keith, rolling over and slowly pushing his blankets to the side. The cold air assailed his bare skin. God, why was it always so fucking cold in the apartment?

He sat up in the bed, swinging his legs over the side. His bed creaked with the movement, to which he heard Shiro turn away from his door and walk away, satisfied that Keith was, in fact, getting up. 

Keith rested his elbows on his knees, rubbing the heel of his palms into his eyes, trying to clear the blurriness in his vision. 

Keith moved into a new apartment close to the center of the city with Shiro. They couldn’t afford to keep their home, and, to be completely honest, neither of them even wanted to. Especially not after Keith came home a month after… after, and yelled for Dad, wanting to tell him about the weird, tree he’d found fallen in the forest.

That day was probably the day where it all officially sank in.

That’s kinda the thing when you lose someone. It never really hits you right away. For awhile, you know they’re gone, but a small part of you is  _ certain _ that you’ll see them soon. And that tiny part of you  has no reason to believe that, but it just does. You always expect that one day, you’ll come home and they’ll be there on the couch or in the kitchen or, hell, coming out of the bathroom. That they’ll greet you with a smile and a hug and tell you about how much they missed you over the past couple months. That you’ll be able to just…  _ be with them _ .

And then, at some point, the reality hits.

Something happens and suddenly you know. You know they aren’t coming back. You know that you won’t see them. You know that you can never talk to them again. Hear their voice. Hold them. Hug them.  _ Nothing _ . 

That day might’ve hurt more than the event itself. In fact, it  _ definitely  _ did.

Keith sighed. He tipped his head back, keeping the tears that had formed at bay.

He sighed again and ran his hands through his hair. Anyway. Getting up. School. Responsibilities. Those sort of things.

Keith stood up, legs slightly stiff and wobbly.

He felt oddly sore, but his lack of sleep that night were probably to blame for that. He had been  _ way _ too stressed and anxious about going back to school - and a  _ new _ school at that - to be able to sleep properly. He tossed and turned for a good two hours before he fell asleep, and then promptly woke up about three hours later only to spend almost another full hour trying to get back to sleep.

He stretched his arms above his head and went up onto his toes. He groaned as the joint in his shoulder lightly popped. He tilted his head from side to side, earning a couple satisfying cracks in his neck.

Keith grabbed a sweatshirt and a pair of black jeans out from his dresser, throwing them onto his bed. He debated pulling out a change of underwear, but what was the point? He put them on in the evening of the night before, so they should still be clean enough, right? Whatever.

He changed out of his sweatpants and wonderfully soft t-shirt into his sweatshirt and jeans. He grabbed his brush and headed out of his room, grabbing his backpack from the hallway right outside his door.

He walked out of the short hallway and into the kitchen, where Shiro had set out a bowl of cereal and some buttered for him. 

“Milk’s still in the fridge,” said Shiro as he finished pouring his own bowl of cereal. It was Cheerios. Plain Cheerios. Bland as fuck Cheerios. Yay.

Keith walked the two steps to the refrigerator, grabbing the milk and twisting the cap off as he moved back to the table. He poured milk over his own bowl before handing it over to Shiro, who had just sat down.

Keith stared down at his bowl as he ate. He felt more than saw the weird looks Shiro was giving him. 

“You okay?” asked Shiro after a good couple minutes.

“Yeah,” said Keith with a sigh.

“That’s a no.” Shiro set down his spoon, turning his full attention to Keith. “What’s up? Worried about starting at a new school?”

That and a thousand other things. “Yeah.” Keith ate another spoonful of cereal. God, Cheerios might honestly be the worst thing to ever exist.

“I’m sure everything will go perfectly fine,” said Shiro.

Keith was quiet for a moment. “And when it doesn’t?” asked Keith, voice soft and weak as he finally looked up at Shiro.

“First of all,” Shiro pointed his spoon at Keith, “it won’t. Second of all, we’ll deal with anything when it comes, and I’ll be right by your side for all of it.”

Keith nodded slowly, turning back to his food.

“But Keith…,” started Shiro. 

Keith looked up.

Shiro’s face was twisted in thought. He was hesitant. That was never good sign. Keith set his spoon down in his bowl.

“Look. You can’t…,” Shiro sighed, “you can’t get in fights anymore.”

What?

“What?” asked Keith.

“I know you get angry easily, and I know that it’s easier to punch the guy instead of talking, but you can’t get in fights now.”

“What are you even talking about? You’re acting as if I get in a fight everyday,” said Keith. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair.

“No, not everyday, but at least once a year, you’ve gotten into a fight for one reason or another.”

“But they deserved it!” Keith’s voice was starting to rise.

“That doesn’t matter.” 

“But-”

“ _ Keith _ .” Keith’s mouth snapped shut. Shiro was using the same voice Ma used to use when she was really upset and frustrated. Hard, unwavering. You were going to listen to him and you were going to do exactly what he said. No ‘if’s, ‘and’s, or ‘but’s about it.

Keith set his jaw and turned his head, looking out the window.

“Keith,” said Shiro, his voice infinitely more gentle. “I fought so hard with CPS to be able to keep you with me. I jumped through so many hoops and battled tooth and nail, and they almost didn’t even let me take you. If they find even the smallest reason to believe I’m unfit as your guardian, they’ll rip us apart.”

Keith looked down to his lap, crossed arms slightly blocking his view. He heard Shiro take a breath, a slight shudder just barely evident in it. 

“So you can’t fight anymore,” continued Shiro. “You can’t fight; you can’t yell; you can’t talk back; you can’t even get bad grades. The moment you get home you have to start on your homework and study as much as possible. You need to be the best, because I might lose you if you’re not, and I can’t deal with that.” Shiro coughed, low and deep, almost like he was holding back a sob. “I love you, Keith. You’re my brother, I can’t lose you.” The  _ too _ was left unsaid.

Shiro briefly wiped at his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Promise me you’ll be on your best behavior in school.”

“I will,” mumbled Keith, unwilling to look up and see the state of his brother’s face.

“No, look at me, and promise me you’ll be on your best behavior.”

Keith looked up. Shiro’s eyes were pink, upper lip slightly swollen. His cheeks were rosy, with a couple little blotches around his face.

“I promise you, Takashi. I will be on my best behavior.”

Shiro sighed. He visibly relaxed, not completely, but somewhat. Had Keith really been worrying Shiro that much? He really didn’t fight all that often… did he?

It wasn’t his fault though. All of those fucking kids had it coming for ‘em. They were all assholes who had either messed with Keith or his friends, and you can’t just do that and get away with it. Except… well… maybe now you could. 

_ Fuck. _

Shiro looked over to the clock. “Shit!” he said under his breath, before realizing what he had said. “Oh wait, uh, shoot.”

Keith gave him a look. “I’m going into high school, Shiro, I don’t care if you swear.”

“Yeah, but I do. C’mon, we gotta leave or we’re gonna be late.” Shiro eyed Keith’s breakfast. He had only had a few spoonfuls of cereal and hadn’t even touched his toast yet.

“Grab your toast for road and throw the rest in the sink, I’ll deal with it when I get home,” said Shiro.

Shiro went into the hallway while Keith did as he said. He returned with Keith’s backpack slung over his left shoulder. Keith quickly ran his brush through his hair. 

The two rushed out of their apartment once he was done, Shiro making sure to lock it, before heading towards the elevator.

The ride down was silent, not awkward, just silent. Shiro was leaning against the back while Keith stood in front of the buttons. Keith was carrying his backpack now, and it had never filled him with more dread than it had in that moment. It felt like the final nail in the coffin.

He had never switched schools before; he had gone through his whole life going to school with the same couple hundred people, with the occasional person leaving or coming in. Never once had he been thrown into a situation where he knew quite literally  _ no one _ . And he would be stuck there for hours upon hours each day.

God  _ fuck _ . Could he just convince Shiro to homeschool him?

Wait, no, Shiro has his job and university to worry about; he wouldn’t have time for Keith.

Keith sighed.

How exactly was he even supposed to make friends? Wait until someone came to him, or walk up to a group and force his way in? Should he even try though? It’s not like he would have time if he was going to be doing schoolwork all the time. 

The elevator door dinged. Shiro waited for Keith to walk out first before following him out.

They walked side-by-side the eight blocks it took to get to the school grounds. There were groups of teenagers littered around. Some were on the steps, some just inside the doors, and some standing and talking on the sidewalks, taking up enough room that Shiro had to walk ahead and lead Keith through them, towards the doors.

Upon entering the school, Shiro found a janitor and politely asked where the principal’s office was. After receiving an unnecessarily detailed explanation, the two headed down the hallway, took a right, and entered the first door on the left. 

The secretary greeted them as they walked in. “Hi! How can I help you?” She had definitely been cheery for it being so early in the morning.

“Hi, we’re here to see Principal O’Reily,” said Shiro.

“Are you Mr. Shirogane and…,” she looked over to Keith, “Mr. Kogane?”

They both nodded.

“Fantastic!” Yeah,  _ way _ too cheery. “Have a seat, I’ll tell her you’re here.”

“Thank you very much,” said Shiro with a smile.

The secretary pressed a couple buttons on her desk before going over to her computer, seemingly going back to work.

The two sat down in the middle of the four chairs that stood in front of and to the right of the secretary’s desk. Keith set his backpack down on the floor next to him.

They were only sitting for a couple minutes before a tall woman, looking both strict and kind with her tight face but easy smile, walked out of a hallway and towards them.

“Mr. Shirogane and Mr. Kogane?” she asked looking to them.

“Yup,” said Shiro, standing up.

Keith did the same, grabbing his backpack as he did so.

“I’m Principal O’Reily, please follow me. My office is just down the hall,” she said as she turned and waved them on.

Shiro and Keith followed, Keith only a step or two behind Shiro, who looked back at him and gave him a smile before turning back. Keith faked one back.

It was gonna be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and criticisms are both loved and appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to ask me to tag any triggers or to ask if there will be any upcoming that you're worried about, I'd be happy to tell you.
> 
> Scream at me [on tumblr](http://shiros-eyes.tumblr.com) or [on twitter](https://twitter.com/thememewrites)


End file.
